Death On The Thames
by Come Along Holmes
Summary: When Bodies are found on the Thames, Sherlock and John are called in to solve the mystery of why. But is there someone behind these bodies and are they out for something bigger?
1. Chapter 1

**1**

Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson were sat in the sitting room of 221b Baker Street reading newspapers, when Sherlock slammed his paper down on the table. "IM SO BORED!" Sherlock shouted "Why is there never anything to do around here?" All of a sudden there was a knock at the door and seconds later the click of the lock and footsteps ascending the staircase, the sitting room door flung open to reveal Inspector Lestrade followed by Mrs Hudson.

"Sherlock we've got another one." Lestrade said hastily.

"Another what?" Sherlock asked clasping his hands in his lap.

"You know exactly what."

"Well judging by the small flecks of blood on your finger nails you must have been near blood and there is an awful lot of mud on the hem of your trousers and your shoes meaning you must have been in a muddy area, also your holding an envelope with the words Thames murder no. 3 printed in big black letters so I'm presuming another Thames murder, oh Greg you make it too easy."

"Well done Sherlock you continue to amaze me." Lestrade said sarcastically.

"I know." Sherlock replied with a faint smile clearly not even trying to be modest. Sherlock and john grabbed their coats and followed Lestrade out of the door and into a big black Lexus parked on the curb outside the flat.

"Hello Sherlock." said the unmistakable posh voice of Mycroft Holmes as john opened the sleek car door.

"Hello Mycroft, why are you here?"

"Nice to see you too."

"I never said it was nice to see you, I asked why you're here so please answer my question." Sherlock said impatiently.

"I am here because the people at the palace are getting worried about these murders and as your dear brother they sent me to find you."

"So where did you find the body this time?" John interjected before there could be any arguments.

"We found him just down river from Westminster Bridge lying on his front on the surface rather than submerged like the others."

"YES!" Sherlock suddenly shouted, making John jump out of his seat.

"What?" John asked.

"I beat my high score on doodle jump!" he said with a grin. John turned to look out of the dark tinted windows with a concerned sigh.

By the time the Lexus pulled up alongside the dark murky river, Sherlock had established that it had a leather arm rest that when pulled down made a loud squeaking noise and had been playing with it for five minutes before Inspector Lestrade handcuffed him to the seat in front. The driver cut out the engine and Lestrade hopped out and opened Sherlock's door "If I take these cuffs off, will you be sensible?" he asked him.

"Yes." Sherlock mumbled like a naughty child. Lestrade pulled the key from his pocket and thrust it into the lock, allowing Sherlock to stroll out across the river bank to examine the body, slamming the door behind him. He crouched down beside it with his arms resting on his knees. "Right let's get this party started, do you have any background information on the victim?" he asked, turning to look at Lestrade.

"Umm not much." he said taking his PDA from his jacket pocket "His name was Alex Daniels, he was in his mid-forties, he had a wife and three kids and that's pretty much it to be honest."

"Okay." Sherlock said with a glazed expression, his long, bony fingers already moving across the man's body examining it in great detail. Finally after just a few minutes of intense examination he stood up and straightened his back.

"What's your verdict?" Lestrade asked.

"Well, I found traces of dried salt on most of his clothes, most likely from the salt water in the river, and he had a few flecks of blood on his chin and hands, but there was no wounds that would show the cause of death and finally he had traces of various types of acids on his finger nails the most evident being sodium hydroxide." he said all this extremely fast causing Lestrade to look extremely confused for a moment before coming to his senses. "Oh erm yeah he was a lab worker at London university." he said, taking another quick glance at his PDA.

"And what were the other victims' jobs?" Sherlock asked.

"One was a plumber, and one was a shop worker." Lestrade replied beginning to get confused.

"What kind of shop?" Sherlock asked, starting to make the situation sound like twenty one questions.

"Um a small place that sells things that make you smell nice," he said. "You know soap, smellies that kind of stuff."

"That's it!" Sherlock shouted excitedly "I've got it!"

"Got what?" John asked.

"The link, I've got the link between the bodies." Sherlock said.

"Well what is it then?" Lestrade asked.

"You must know, come on!" he yelled "Anyone?" no one spoke up. "Oh come on it's obvious!"


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

After Sherlock had declared that he knew the link, a link that no one else could see, he ran out to the nearest road and flagged down a taxi. Sherlock and John jumped in and Sherlock told the driver to go to the London University.

When the cab pulled up outside the huge stone campus Sherlock hopped out and paid the driver before walking leisurely up towards the big wooden doors. "Ahh the smell of spot cream and hair gel, the aroma of the youth." John turned the big brass handle and flung the door open allowing Sherlock to sweep in and slam the door behind them. Sherlock walked across the marble floor to a big oak desk on the far side of the room and rung a small silver bell. After a few seconds a small woman of about 30, with light blond hair and horn rimmed glasses emerged from a door behind the desk. "Welcome to London university how may I help you?" she said politely.

"I'm Dr. John Watson and this is Sherlock Holmes, you may know us from the paper, we're here on Scotland Yard duty." John said before Sherlock could be rude.

"Oh yes the man with the funny hat and the bachelor." The receptionist said with a giggle.

"Yes I had a hat on and yes John is single but could you please show us to your chemistry labs, I'm starting to get bored." Sherlock said with a deep sigh.

"I would hurry up he shoots things when he's bored." John said sincerely.

"OK right this way" she said with a concerned expression, beginning to walk quickly down a long marble and oak hallway.

By the time they arrived at the science labs the walls had gone from expensive oak to sterilized metal and plastic.

The receptionist stopped at a big metal door with the words chemistry lab 6 Dr. James Masklett in bold black letters. "Here you go gentlemen I hope you find what you're looking for and if you have any problems please feel free to come and find me."

"Thank you very much" john said on behalf of him and Sherlock who had already opened the door to the lab and was arguing with a large burly man of about fifty with greying hair and black, rounded glasses, who john presumed was Dr. James Masklett. "I'd better go and sort him out" he said and with that he followed Sherlock inside.

"Oh great two people now, shall we have a party?" Dr. Masklett was shouting furiously.

I'm sorry sir, we're from Scotland Yard we just need to take a quick look around." John said, trying to calm him down.

"I don't care if you're from Scotland Yard you could be from Raxicoricofallipatorius for all I care, why do you need to take a look around my lab." He yelled.

"Because your lab partner, Alex Daniels, was murdered last night and we need to find something to help us find the murderer." Sherlock said without even a hint of sympathy.

"Oh, err, sorry I had no idea, please; knock your self out, take a look around." He said his expression softening and his face going bright red with embarrassment.

"Thank you" john said again whilst Sherlock began to root around in desk drawers. Sherlock opened a large door at the back of the room releasing steam and revealing a steep staircase descending down into darkness. "What's down there" Sherlock asked with a flourish of his hand towards the stairs.

"Oh that, that's just the cold storage for the acids and stuff." Dr. Masklett said.

"Mind if we have a look" Sherlock asked.

"Yeah sure, knock yourselves out" Dr. Masklett said again.

The three men descended the stairs into the small dark refrigerated room.

"Brrr it's freezing down here. John said, pulling his jacket in closer around his shoulders. Sherlock had begun to root around again ignoring john's comment about the temperature. After about five minutes of searching, Sherlock's voice came from behind a stack of barrels. "Dr. Masklett, can you come here for a second." Dr. Masklett walked over to Sherlock who pointed to a line of barrels.

"What about them?" Dr. Masklett asked.

"The name on them is TRIAROMY CO, now I know a lot about different companies but I've definitely never heard of this one." Sherlock said.

"Well neither have I, this was Alex's area, not mine, so I don't know where he gets his supplies from. He said.

"Do you know where we might find anything like transaction details, email references, you know that kinda stuff."

"Umm yeah that kinda stuff would be in the dean's office probably."

"Right that'll be our next destination then" Sherlock said sweeping out of the room and up the stairs, his long coat billowing behind him. Dr. Masklett and john didn't move and a few seconds later Sherlock's voice came from the top of the stairs, "where's the dean's office" he shouted. John and Dr. Masklett laughed and walked up the stairs after him.

After following Dr. Masklett for 10 minutes and getting lost 3 times with Dr. Masklett insisting he'd never been there before, but Sherlock knew he was lying and he'd forgotten where it was. When they finally arrived at the dean's office Dr. Masklett knocked and the clang of teacup on saucer and then "come in" was heard from beyond the door. Dr. Masklett opened the door and Sherlock and John followed him in. the Dean was a tall man of about thirty who was wearing an expensive suit and had his hair gelled back in a professional fashion. "How can I help you lads?"

"Good morning dean this is Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson they are here on Scotland Yard duty as Alex Daniels was murdered last night."

"Oh yes, I heard he wouldn't be returning, shame, he was a lovely fellow."

"Yeah so they just need to take a look at Alex's files if that's OK."

"Yes, that's fine, third drawer down on the left" he said helpfully but of course Sherlock already had his head buried in the drawer. A few minutes later he straightened up and flapped a piece of paper in the air. "Here we are" he said "this is just what I was looking for" he said waving it in john's face. "He'd been paying Jim Triaromy for about 22 months but in October 2011 he cancelled the membership, then a day later he got an email from this Jim asking why, he said because he smelt a rat and then that's it there's nothing else." He said. "Well thank you very much" Sherlock said, and with that he stormed out of the door followed by John, leaving the dean and Dr Masklett to look at each other in amazement.


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

Ping ping! Sherlock's phone had received a text; he withdrew it from his pocket and took a quick glance at the screen. "It's from Lestrade" he said.

"What does it say?" john asked.

"Dunno I haven't looked."

"Well have a look then, that's what normal people do."

"I'm not normal I'm more intelligent." Sherlock said.

"Sure you are" John said sarcastically with a sigh, grabbing the phone from Sherlock. He quickly read the message aloud. "Sherlock, can you and john please come down to the station we have some suspects lined up." He relayed from the screen.

"None of them are the killer" Sherlock said, inspecting his finger nails.

"How the hell do you know that without seeing the suspects" john said swivelling round in his taxi cab seat to give Sherlock an accusing look.

"Because I'm clever and everyone down at the station are stupid therefore they've undoubtedly got it wrong." Sherlock said, as if it was completely obvious.

"I give up" john said with a sigh turning back to look away from Sherlock.

When the cab pulled up alongside the curb outside the Scotland Yard central police station Sherlock got out, paid the driver and walked into the station where Inspector Lestrade was waiting for him in the lobby. "Right this way lads, but of course I suppose Sherlock already knows the way."

Left, right, up two flights of stairs, left and through a white door."

"How on earth did you know all that?!" john asked amazed.

"His hair is swiped to the left to show a sharp left turn, his blazer is misplaced to the right to show a sharp right turn directly after that, his shoes are scuffed gradually, the gradual descent of a staircase but it looks like its happened twice. And then his trousers are scuffed at the bottom to show he's caught a wall on another left turn."

"And how did you know the door was white" Lestrade asked with a grin.

"Because you have bits of flaky white paint on your sleeves where you've pushed open the door." He said with a returning grin.

"Oh for goodness sakes" Lestrade said.

When they arrived at the suspect line-up room, Lestrade ushered them in and, as usual, Sherlock swept past him. Lined up behind the one-way mirror was a line of four men who all looked worried. "well" Lestrade said turning to look at Sherlock with his hands on his hips.

"It wasn't him." Sherlock said pointing to the third man across. "He's too thin he wouldn't have had the strength to carry the victim's body and there was no sign of dragging at the crime scene."

"It can't have been either of those two" He said pointing to the first and last in the now shortened line "he's got size 10 feet and he's got size 12 feet the footprints by the river were size 8."

"What footprints?" Lestrade and John both said at the same time.

The footprints down by the river" Sherlock said "the ones I didn't tell you about."

"Ok then, why didn't you tell us" Lestrade asked, his voice showing a hint of anger.

"I dunno, just couldn't be bothered I guess." Sherlock said.

"Right so what about this one shall we take him in for questioning?" Lestrade said with an annoyed sigh.

"Yeah can't see anything against that" Sherlock said and with that he left the station with John following behind.

Outside the station Sherlock flagged down another Taxi and John was about to get in when Sherlock stopped him. "No John this is my taxi I need you to go and get my laptop from the flat so you'll have to get the next cab."

"Right, ok then." John said. Sherlock slammed the door and told the cab driver he needed to go to Plucky Plumbing co. HQ in Camden with this the driver nodded and pulled away from the curb leaving John alone to wait for the next cab.

After watching the strange man in the back of the Cab throw his hands around in his rear view mirror for about 10 minutes the cab driver decided to ask what he was doing. "Excuse me sir what are you doing?"

"Thinking, shut up your stupidness is fogging up my brain." Sherlock said rudely before going back to his "mind palace."

"Charming" said the cab driver with a sigh before going back to focus on the road.

After about 20 minutes the cab pulled up alongside a small warehouse and Sherlock got out and paid the driver. As he was walking towards the big metal doors, his phone began to ring, he took it from his pocket and looked at the screen, John's name and picture popped up on the screen so he pressed the green button. "Hey Sherlock where did you put your laptop I can't find it anywhere?"

"Umm it should be on the desk but it could be in the fridge." Sherlock replied.

"Why is it the fridge" john asked.

"I was doing an experiment… I think." Sherlock said.

"Ok I'll have a" john's voice stopped abruptly and a lot of crashing and banging was heard in the background before a deep, grizzly voice came on the line. "If you want your friend back you will have to solve this mystery before midday tomorrow or he will die." With that the line went dead.


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

"Lestrade I need you down at Baker Street, now!" Sherlock shouted down the phone.

"Why, what's happened?" Lestrade asked calmly.

"John's been taken, I'm on my way to baker street to see if I can find some clues but I need you down there too so hurry up! Sherlock shouted again. With that he punched the red button and breathed out a sigh of excitement. "The game is on" he said quietly to himself.

When the taxi arrived at 221b baker street Sherlock flew out of the door and threw a 10 pound note through the driver's window before running up the steps to the front door. He ran into the building and began to ascend the stairs "Mrs Hudson, Mrs Hudson!" he yelled but with no answer. He got to the top of the stairs and shouted again "Mrs Hudson!"

"In here Sherlock" came the shaky voice of Mrs Hudson who had clearly been crying. Sherlock opened the bathroom door to find Mrs Hudson who was sitting on the tiled floor mopping her eyes with a handkerchief "I had to hide Sherlock, three big men came in and took John, I was scared." She said beginning to cry again. Sherlock sat down on the bathroom floor beside her and put his arm around her tenderly.

"The great Mrs Hudson was scared?" Sherlock said in mock disbelief "I don't believe it for a second" he said. This must have cheered Mrs Hudson up as she gave a faint smile and got up off the floor.

"Do you want a sandwich love?" she asked.

"No thank you I've got a job to do" Sherlock said as he began to look around the hallway for any sign of fingerprints or any other evidence. After about half an hour of scouring the flat Sherlock had come up with nothing but a set of faint fingerprints and a trail of muddy footprints up the stairs, which as soon as he had finished examining, Mrs Hudson started scrubbing out with soap and water. During this half an hour Inspector Lestrade turned up with three of his best forensic scientists but was soon turned around by Sherlock, who told him he had decided they were too stupid to be involved in this mystery. When Sherlock had finished looking round the flat for his valuable evidence he said goodbye to Mrs Hudson and went to the lab to examine the fingerprints he had found.

He arrived at the laboratories of St. Bartholomew's hospital at 1 o'clock to find molly eating her lunch. "Hello molly" he said as he walked past.

"Hi Sherlock, what are you doing here?" she asked as she got up, sandwich in hand, to follow him through the sanitised corridors.

"John's been kidnapped and I need to examine these fingerprints to find out who took him." He said as they reached the lab.

"Oh my God, Poor john, what are you going to do? Molly cried putting her hands over her mouth.

Sherlock stopped in his tracks, halfway down the corridor and put his hands on Molly's shoulders. "Molly, my dear, dear Molly, what do you think I am doing here with a set of fingerprints?"

"Oh yeah, I suppose, but what are you going to do with them" she said continuing to walk down the corridor.

"Examine them" he replied flapping them at her with a grin on his face.

When they arrived at molly's lab at the end of the corridor, molly held open the door and, as usual, Sherlock swept past without so much as a thank you. He immediately crossed to the desk in the centre of the room and took the microscope from the cupboard beneath the desk. "Molly, can you patch into the NHS systems and tell me how many people there are with the types of fingerprints I read out please?" he asked as Molly sat down at her computer finishing the last of her sandwich.

"Yup I can do that" she said as she signed in.

"Good, right lets get this going then shall we." He put the fingerprints on a thin glass slide and clipped it onto the microscope and began to focus it. "Ahh here we go" Sherlock said taking his eye away from the microscope eyepiece. "We definitely have a whorl pattern." He said before going back to the microscope.

"Okay" Molly said deep in thought, tapping on the keyboard "we have 10 results with a whorl fingerprint pattern in a 10 mile radius of this location, six males and four females" she said, turning to look at Sherlock. "Do we have a gender specification?" She asked.

"Yes definitely a male" Sherlock replied. "Unless this woman has an extremely sore throat" he continued with a subtle grin.

"Okay, that narrows it down to six people then, do we have a specification of the type of whorl?" she asked, turning to look at Sherlock again.

"Umm, hang on a minute." He said looking into the eyepiece again. After a few seconds he arose from the microscope "double loop" he pronounced. Molly turned to the computer and began to type again. "Right, we have just two people in a ten mile radius with a double loop whorl pattern."

"Right, okay it looks like we're going to have to pay the job agency a visit, do you want to come?"

"No it's okay I'll stay here" Molly replied "I've got a bit of work to catch up with."

"Okay then I'll see you later" Sherlock said as he opened the door. As Sherlock left the room, Molly breathed out and flopped back in her seat.

When Sherlock arrived at the job agency on Bond Street he walked up to the receptionist desk where a young boy of around 18, with bright blue hair and several piercings covering his face was sat. "Hello how can I help you sir" he droned, clearly bored with his job.

"yes, hello I'm Sherlock Holmes and I'm here on Scotland yard duty" he said flashing his ID at the blue haired receptionist who he had noticed was named David according to the shiny name tag pinned to his chest.

"Oh yeah I saw you on TV dude, your awesome man." He said with a grin and a flick of his blue hair.

"Err, right, anyway I need to know the jobs of these two men" he said as Sherlock slammed the paper down on the wooden desk. David pulled the paper towards him and began to type on the small computer in the corner of the desk. After a couple of minutes of muttering and typing he finally came up with what he wanted. "Uhh yeah, Mr Holmes the first dude works for Tesco as a security guard, and the other guy works for a Triaromy acids, I've never heard of them, who are they?" He said looking away from the computer to turn and look at Sherlock.

"Now tell me where that Triaromy acids is situated." Sherlock said quickly before David could ask anything else. After another short while of muttering and typing, David finally surfaced from the computer. "It's situated in the Derring warehouse estate, warehouse B, its just south of Victoria park." As soon as Sherlock heard this, he sprinted out of the door of the job agency.


	5. Chapter 5

**5**

John awoke to the sound of laughing, his hands were tied behind his back and he couldn't see a thing for the blindfold across his face. He tried to speak but couldn't as he found that his mouth was gagged tightly by a piece of cloth. "Shut up, I'm trying to watch The Big Bang Theory" came a voice from the other side of the room, which john was sure he had heard before. Suddenly the sound of a door squeaking on its hinges came from just left of where john was tied up, followed by the steady clicking of high heels. "Erm Mr M…"

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" the voice yelled "you know you don't use my name when we have visitors" he said, collecting himself and trying to keep calm. Nobody said anything for a few seconds before the anger seeped back into the man's voice "well what do you want!"

"Well err Mr Sanders called about your delivery and…"

"Hang on a minute Miss Ryder…"

"Please, call me charlotte" she said with a little giggle.

"Erm, okay, charlotte" he rolled the name around on his tongue like it was a bad word. "Look I hired you to be my solicitor not my secretary, so please, go and do some solicitoring." He said, clearly still trying to keep his anger down. The steady clicking of heels started up again and got quieter and quieter until it was no longer audible. "Finally I can get on with my programme" the voice said, but just as the sound of the TV started up again the sound of a shocked scream and clattering footsteps was heard down the hallway, "oh, what now" the man said clearly starting to get extremely annoyed. The footsteps continued to get closer until they thundered to a stop outside the locked metal door. The door began to pound loudly and there was a deep voice from beyond it "sir we know your in there, come out with your hands where we can see them."

Footsteps came over to john and stopped beside him "looks like your little buddies have arrived" the man said. John tried to tell him what he thought of him but couldn't, so all he managed was a feeble grunt. After a few minutes of heavy pounding on the door it finally gave way and swung open, smashing against the wall behind it. Footsteps ran over to john and he could feel heavy hands fiddling with the black cloth on his face before it slipped off and john was momentarily blinded by the bright lights. When john's eyes adjusted to the light he found out who the voice had been. Jim Moriarty! He quickly analysed the room and saw two SWAT officers, detective inspector Lestrade and a small woman with dark hair cowering in the corner who he presumed was Charlotte Ryder.

Lestrade began to read from a piece of paper which john presumed was a warrant for Moriarty's arrest. "Jim Moriarty you are under arrest for suspicion of the murdering of Alex Daniels, Bethany Davies and David Crayson and the kidnapping of doctor john Watson. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence." The SWAT officers walked over to Moriarty and began to clip handcuffs to his wrists but he didn't protest he only laughed. Suddenly the great big industrial style lights began to flicker and die and john, Sherlock, Lestrade and the SWAT officers were shrouded in darkness.

After a few minutes of darkness and confusion the lights came back on with a loud clunk and john was once again blinded, when his eyes adjusted to the light he found that Moriarty had escaped and the SWAT officers were laying on the floor drenched in their own blood that was seeping from both their necks. "Get me off this chair, and I might be able to help them." John said pulling at the ropes binding him to the chair. Sherlock ran over and began to untie him.

"God, these ropes are tight" Sherlock said as he frantically tried to unravel the knots which had been put there to keep john on the chair. After a few minutes of swearing and harsh tugs on the ropes, Sherlock finally freed john and the heavy ropes dropped to the floor. John stood up for the first time in hours and ran over to the closest man. He felt his pulse and then turned to Lestrade and shook his head solemnly "I'm sorry he's already dead." Lestrade looked down at his feet without a word. John moved on to the other lad who was still alive but writhing in his own blood. John took the heavy knife from the man's neck and inspected the wound. "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do, the blade has pierced the oesophagus, he can't breath" as if on cue the man began to wretch up blood. "He has about 30 seconds" john stood up beside Lestrade and they stood silently above the dying man "shouldn't we put him out of his misery" Lestrade asked quietly.

"No, we'll only cause him more pain." Sherlock said walking up behind them. After a short while, the man finally died, john bent down and used his thumb and forefinger to shut the man's eyes "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He said solemnly. As Lestrade went outside to call an ambulance for the two bodies Sherlock began to tell John his plan. "Right, we need to find out if he's left us any evidence here and then we can find a trail that will lead us straight to him."

"Sherlock, this is Moriarty we're talking about, he's not likely to have left any evidence."

"I know, I thought of that and I can't see any way around it, so it looks like we're back to square one." Sherlock said with a sigh. As John and Sherlock left the building, two medics walked past with a trolley each, ready to load the bodies on. Lestrade walked over and stood beside them "I didn't even know their names; they'd both only been on the job a week." He said.

"How long has been there?" Sherlock suddenly piped up.

"What?" john asked turning to look at him

"That man over there, how long has been there?" Sherlock repeated.

"I don't know" Lestrade said, but of course Sherlock was already bounding across the road. Lestrade and john followed him. Sherlock knocked on the man's car window and pointed downwards, the man rolled down the window and looked at Sherlock confusedly, "what do you want?" he asked rudely.

"Have you just seen a man come out of that building?" Sherlock said as he gestured towards the large warehouse behind him.

"Erm yeah he got in a big silver car and went that way" he pointed down the street.

Sherlock turned to john slowly.

"What's up" john asked him, seeing a problem in Sherlock's expression.

"he's heading out of London" Sherlock said quietly.


	6. Chapter 6

**6**

"But that means he could be going anywhere" john said.

"Yes, and that's why we need to catch him" Sherlock said withdrawing his Scotland Yard ID from his pocket. He turned away from john and Lestrade and walked over to the man in the gleaming red Ferrari who he had spoken to not moments ago. "Sherlock Holmes, Scotland Yard" Sherlock said flashing his ID in the man's face. "Get out" he added bluntly.

"No this is my car, I just got it and I'm not just handing it over to a complete stranger." Said the man, an annoyed expression coming across his face.

Hearing all this Lestrade walked over and had a go at removing the man from the car. "Please sir, you don't have to worry about a thing you'll get your car back in one piece." He said this as he turned to Sherlock and gave him a glare that said you will not damage this car "plus you will be paid well for your assistance in catching this criminal." With that the man got out of the car and Lestrade gave him an address to go to, to pick up his car.

Sherlock jumped in and slammed his finger down on the big, red ignition button. The engine started with a deep roar. "Come on john" he shouted out of the passenger side window. John came running up and jumped into the chair beside Sherlock's.

"Oh very nice, a Ferrari" john said as he looked around the car in astonishment. Suddenly a knock came at the passenger side window, making john jump, Lestrade was at the window with a pair of flashing lights to put on the top of the car. "God, Lestrade don't do that" john said as he rolled down the window.

"I just thought you might need these."

"Thanks put them on the roof, will you?" John said. Lestrade reached up and put the lights on the roof but didn't turn them on.

"Well turn them on then" john said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I will, but what am I supposed to do whilst you two get all the action?" he asked. At this point Sherlock reached across john to talk to Lestrade.

"Lestrade, you're a detective inspector why don't you go and do some… inspecting." With a sigh Lestrade reached up and turned on the lights, starting up the blue and red lights and a deafening siren. John rolled down the window to lock out the sound of the sirens ant turned to talk to Sherlock, "do you actually know how to drive" he asked as Sherlock fiddled with the gearstick.

"No but how hard can it be" Sherlock replied as he put the gearstick into first. John quickly put his seatbelt on and clenched his fist around the door handle just as Sherlock slammed his foot down on the accelerator, making the red beast lurch forward.

After driving through the centre of London, Sherlock pulled up at a crossroad, the left road of which took him onto the M1 motorway. "Which way now" john asked. Sherlock ignored him and turned left. The car roared down the slip road and flew onto the motorway narrowly missing a ford mondeo that was coming up from behind, causing the driver to honk his horn and shake his fist. Ignoring this Sherlock continued to drive until john spotted the familiar, silver glint of moriarty's Mercedes. "There he is" john suddenly shouted pointing ahead out of the windscreen. Sherlock pushed his foot down on the accelerator pedal, squeezing the speed up to 110. The red Ferrari pulled up alongside the silver sedan. Sherlock rolled down his window and yelled out across the roaring sounds of the motorway. "Just give it up Moriarty, there's nowhere for you to run this time." Moriarty nodded, silently thinking this through, when suddenly he reached across to his seemingly empty passenger seat and picked up a gun. "Get down!" Sherlock yelled, john and Sherlock both ducked as the windows exploded inwards allowing Moriarty to slam his foot down on the pedal and the car to screech ahead, spitting out exhaust fumes in the process.

"Take the wheel!" Sherlock shouted to john as he flung the door of the Ferrari open and swung himself up onto the roof with a loud clunk. The car swerved violently as john swapped seats, nearly throwing Sherlock out into the road in front of a lorry, but with the momentum of the swerve Sherlock leapt out over the tarmac that was roaring by at over 100 miles per hour and only just managed to grab the clip that was holding the tarpaulin on the metal frame. He pulled himself up and swung his legs up over the top where he lay for a millisecond to regain his breath, before he got back up on his feet and pulled his gun as he ran to the front of the lorry. He was now only 10 feet behind Moriarty and he fired a full round of bullets at moriarty's car causing the back window to shatter. The lorry driver poked his head out of the lorry cab window just as moriarty returned fire and one of the bullets sank deep into the driver's skull, splatting blood out across john's windscreen. "oh, that's disgusting" Sherlock said from atop the lorry.

"You won't be saying that when the same happens to you" moriarty shouted from his window. But all of a sudden the lorry swerved violently to the right, everyone had forgotten that the driver was hanging dead out of the window. The lorry swerved back to the left into the path of another lorry. The two Lorries collided into each other with a loud screech. Sherlock was thrown forward and he only just managed to grab the wing mirror with one hand, he was now hanging on for dear life as the lorry swerved violently from the back turning around into the path of moriarty's car which barrelled dangerously into the lorry crashing to a quick stop.

John pulled the Ferrari up behind the carnage that included two overturned Lorries and a smashed up Mercedes- Benz that contained an unconscious Jim Moriarty. Sherlock was standing beside the car with a smile on his face. "Well I think we handled that extremely well." He said, opening the driver side door.

"You think we handled that well?" john said pointing to the carnage behind him. "Sherlock we've just destroyed two Lorries and caused a huge blockage on the most important part of the M1!" he said, directing his attention to the mass of honking horns and the steady build up of cars. "Not to mention the amount of money this is going to cost Scotland Yard!" he said. Sherlock ignored him as he released moriarty's seatbelt and dragged him from the wreckage that was once a car. As Sherlock got moriarty's unconscious form out onto the hot tarmac john dialled Lestrade's number onto his phone. " Lestrade… we've got him."


	7. Chapter 7

**7**

Sherlock wandered casually into the courtroom ten minutes late. "What I miss?" he said flinging his jacket at the coat rack where it caught a hook and stayed.

"Mr Holmes, where have you been?" the judge asked with an annoyed expression on his face. "You know we can't start without you."

"Yeah, sorry I overslept." Sherlock said before he turned around and walked over to sit next to John in the witnesses' box. John was staring at him with an accusing face. "What?" Sherlock asked.

"Where have you really been?" John asked.

"You know that painting that went missing from the national gallery about a month ago?" Sherlock said.

"Yeah, the Monet one, what about it?" John asked.

"Well I found it" Sherlock said calmly.

"What?"

"I found the painting" Sherlock replied slowly and loudly like talking to a child.

"Yes I heard you, but I just can't believe it!" john said "you mean to say you found it in one morning?"

"Yup" Sherlock said, a grin spreading across his face.

"But the police have been searching for that painting for weeks, and you find it in a matter of hours?" John stammered. "Sometimes even you surprise me"

"It was simple really, I just…" Sherlock was interrupted by the loud banging of the court judge's hammer. "Order in the court" he yelled over the loud sound of everyone talking. "Okay, you all know why we are here, Mr Moriarty here" he pointed up to the balcony where moriarty was sat back in his seat casually eating an apple. "Has been wreaking havoc all over London for the past month or so, Mr Jameson can we have your prosecuting case please?"

A tall beefy police lieutenant stood up at the table to the left of moriarty and picked up a file from which he read "since the 12th April 2012, Mr Jim Moriarty has been committing crimes all over London, these crimes include: stealing, murder, arson, assaulting a police officer, fraud and kidnapping.

"Thank you lieutenant, doesn't look good for you Mr Moriarty, but can we have the defensive case please?" Moriarty and his solicitor stood up, moriarty holding a bright red apple in his handcuffed hands. "Your honour, I am Jim moriarty's lawyer" the short dark haired woman said.

"And your name is?"

"Charlotte Ryder, sir" she replied shakily.

"You're a little young to be a solicitor are you not?" The judge said as he took a sip of his tea. "How old are you?"

"Eighteen, sir, I only passed my university course six months ago." She said.

"Well good on you, but we really should get on with the matter in hand." he said as he picked up a leather bound file from the desk. "So we have evidence here and with Lieutenant Jameson that Mr Moriarty has committed a wide manner of crimes including: stealing, murder, arson, assaulting a police officer, fraud and kidnapping. How can you explain these crimes?" He peered over the top of his horn-rimmed glasses at Miss Ryder who was rifling through her bag. Two seconds later she surfaced with a leather bound folder similar to the one on the judge's desk.

"Ahh here it is" she said as she laid it flat on the wooden desk. "My client was diagnosed with a rare brain problem called hyphosyfalosis which is generally only found in small islands such as Hawaii and Madagascar on the 5th June 2002. The disease causes him to misjudge and sometimes make incorrect decisions."

"Is that so?" the judge said, he looked over his shoulder and gestured for someone to come forward, a small fat police officer waddled over to him and stood at his left shoulder. "I want this information analysed and checked, give me the results the second you have them. "The judge whispered to the police officer. The officer nodded and waddled over to Miss Ryder who handed over the folder reluctantly. The judge continued with the session by asking for the witness case. "I believe we have Mr Holmes and Dr. Watson here as witnesses to moriarty's crimes" he said looking up to their position. Sherlock and John stood up. John opened his mouth to speak but before he could utter a word, Sherlock interrupted.

"Well your honour it all started when we found several bodies in the Thames that we believe to have been Moriarty's handiwork. I then followed some leads that lead me to the University of London where I found some acid barrels marked Triaromy Acids. This I found to be an anagram of Mr Moriarty's name." the courtroom was filled with the sound of muttering and quiet whispers.

"Silence" the judge shouted, banging his hammer on the desk. "Mr Holmes, please go on" he said as he gestured in Sherlock's position. "Well after I'd found these barrels I was called by Lestrade to look at some suspects, none of which were the offender of course. And as we were leaving I asked john here to go and fetch my laptop for me but he got taken hostage from our very flat." Sherlock finished and looked at the judge.

"Do we have an account of what happened whilst john was being held?" the judge asked, diverting his attention to john.

"Yes your honour, I can tell you a little about what I heard but I was blindfolded so I couldn't see anything at all." He said hopefully.

"That's fine" the judge said. "Just tell us what you know"

"Well all I heard was Mr Moriarty having an argument with his solicitor here" he pointed in Miss Ryder's direction "who I believe is called Charlotte Ryder" he said.

"That belief is correct" the judge said as he nodded, confirming john's doubts.

"Well anyway, they argued and then the SWAT team barged in and I was rescued and that was all I really heard as I had been knocked out cold for the majority of the time." He finished his speech.

"Thank you Dr Watson, now I believe Mr Moriarty escaped, killing two SWAT officers in the process. The judge said.

"Yes that is correct" John replied. "We had to chase him up the motorway until we intercepted him not far from Milton Keynes."

"You both did very well and…" the judge was interrupted by the police officer who had returned with the results from the analysis. "Well, this is interesting." The judge said raising his eyebrows but it says here that the disease and everything related to it is forged!


	8. Chapter 8

**8**

The courtroom was filled with the sound of loud gasps and muttering. "Mr Moriarty I am charging you to life imprisonment for the crimes of murder, attempted murder, fraud and vandalism." The judge said as he banged his hammer on the desk for the last time. Moriarty turned to his solicitor with fire in his eyes.

"You said you could make it believable, you said nothing could find it was a fake!" he screamed in her face.

"I-I d-did my best, I thought it would work" she said as her eyes began to well up.

"Not good enough!" he yelled. He pulled a gun from his pocket, causing major commotion and screaming in the courtroom. He pointed it right at Miss Ryder's chest and before any guards could reach him, he pulled the trigger, firing two shots straight at his solicitor. She dropped to her knees clutching the wound and then dropped to the ground in a heap.

"We need a medic in here, NOW!" the judge yelled and two seconds later a team of ambulance medics came in with a stretcher and an oxygen pump. They ran over and one of them checked her pulse whilst the other two crouched beside her.

"There's still a pulse, but its weak I don't think she's going to make it." The medic announced. They lowered her on to the stretcher and linked up a small, portable heart rate monitor to her, but seconds after the machine started beeping, it flat lined with a long loud beep. "Time of death, four thirty six." He said as he ran his hand across her face, closing her eyes.

"Take him to the cells, and check him properly this time!" the judge yelled as two beefy guards yanked Moriarty's arms behind him and handcuffed him. They led him out through the metal door at the back of the courtroom, leading to the court cells.

"Do you mind if we talk to him for a moment." Sherlock asked the judge.

"Yes you can, but be quick, I have some things I need to sort out." The judge said and with that Sherlock bounded out of the room, john following closely at his heels.

When Sherlock and john arrived at moriarty's cell, the guard was just bolting the metal gate shut to prevent moriarty escaping… again. "So you've finally caught me and put me behind bars" moriarty said as he clapped his hands and stared right into Sherlock's eyes. "Do you know what, I thought you would never catch me, but here we are, on opposite sides of the bars."

"I knew I was going to catch you, my mind is so much better than yours, so it never takes long to work out your plans." Sherlock said, neither of the two master minds breaking eye contacts. Suddenly moriarty broke eye contact and grinned.

"Sorry I'm going to have to cut this conversation short" as he said this, he reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a small remote with just one button in the centre.

"No! Don't do it moriarty you'll be putting hundreds of lives in danger" Sherlock said grabbing the bars of the cell.

"Not my problem" moriarty replied as he slammed his thumb down on the button. Sherlock and john sprinted through the corridor, passing cells full of jeering criminals as the explosions rocked the walls behind them and the flames licked at their feet.

When the smoke had cleared Sherlock ran back to moriarty's cell to find a huge, gaping hole in the wall, and a rope ladder descending through the hole and down the wall outside. "Damn it!" Sherlock said, punching the wall to the left of the hole.

"Did that hurt?" john asked.

"Yes" Sherlock replied bringing his fist back into his pocket.

"So now I suppose we're going to have to go on another wild goose chase." John sighed.

"No" Sherlock replied quickly. "I think I might know where he is going."

10 years earlier

The sun was beating down on the green grassed courtyard of the London University. Two young boys were lying looking up at the sky. "Soon I'll be able to get my degree and leave this school for idiots; I swear to God, we must be the most intelligent people in the building." Said the dark, curly haired boy.

"Sherlock, we're going to be famous. We'll be the famed crime fighting detective duo Holmes and moriarty. Jim Moriarty said, as he stood up and got into a karate pose. This made Sherlock laugh, but the laughter was stopped short as one of the university's professors came up behind Moriarty and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Moriarty, Holmes, what are you doing out here? You're supposed to me in Professor Clements' lecture on fingerprinting." He said.

"But surely sir you're not supposed to be out here either, shouldn't you be marking work or something." Sherlock said.

"Don't answer me back, Holmes, and besides I was just going for a stroll whilst the sun was up." He said. "Anyway as I was saying before you interrupted me, Mr Holmes" he shot a dirty look in Sherlock's direction " you need to be at these lectures because as I've told you both before, if you don't show at the lectures you won't pass the course."

"I'm sorry sir I must have heard you wrong, but it sounded like you said we wouldn't pass." Moriarty said with a look of mock confusion.

"I did" the professor replied.

"Well, you're forgetting just one factor." He said with a grin.

"And what is that then?" the professor said as he straightened his mortarboard.

"Well, you're forgetting that we're cleverer than anyone in this place, including you, so how can you possibly think we could fail." Moriarty declared making Sherlock and himself double over in hysterics of laughter.

A storm of anger appeared on the professors face "both of you are in deep trouble, go to my office now you've both got a week's worth of detention"


	9. Chapter 9

**9**

Sherlock and moriarty were sat in the large office of Professor Higgins. "He's just upset because we're more intelligent than him" Moriarty said to Sherlock.

"Too right" Sherlock laughed in agreement as both boys stood up and high fived. Suddenly the door swung open, smashing against the wall behind in the process.

"Sit down, gentlemen" said professor Higgins as he strode through the now wide open door, taking his mortarboard off of his head revealing his greasy hair, his voice straining as he attempted to keep calm. The professor sat down on the opposite side of the desk to where the boys had planted themselves and interlocked his fingers on the desk. "Myself and the other teachers have been looking at your recent results and we have decided that it is necessary for you both to take your final exam in law this year rather than next" he said with a sigh of boredom, he clearly didn't want to be in this room with these two know-it-all's. As they heard this both boys turned to each other and grinned. But now it was Higgins' turn to grin "I wouldn't grin if I was you, it's more of a punishment for your continuous answering back and downright rudeness." He spat across the desk.

"How is that a punishment? That's awesome!" Sherlock said, his grin spreading from ear to ear.

"Think about it Mr Holmes, you've learnt six modules, have you not."

"Yes, Professor Higgins, and we've still got two modules to learn before taking the exam" Sherlock replied. "But I'm fairly certain that we'll pass."

"Well you've got your exam next week, so whether you think you're going to pass or not you had better get revising." Professor Higgins said "now get out of my office before I kick you out"

**One week later**

Sherlock and john were sat silently in the examination hall of their university, their pens scratching furiously on the crisp exam papers as if they were in competition. All of a sudden the examination officer at the front of the room shouted out "you have five minutes remaining of your exam." Both pens picked up in speed as they both put their finishing touches on their answers. "Right, can you both put your pens down please." The examination officer shouted, followed by the clatter of pens on desks. "Your exam results will be marked in one hour's time, you may leave." Both boys stood up causing their chairs to scrape loudly along the hard wooden floor, grabbed their bags and left the room as the bell rang out for lunch.

"How do you think you did?" moriarty asked Sherlock as they walked across the grassy courtyard in the midday sun.

"I feel like I've done good" Sherlock said "in fact I'm pretty certain that I've done brilliantly" he continued with a grin. "What about you, how do you think you did?"

"I know I did fantastic" moriarty replied with a returning grin.

"And how do you know that?" Sherlock asked, raising one eyebrow in mock suspicion.

"Because I'm awesome" moriarty replied causing both the boys to laugh wildly as the bell went for the end of the lunch hour.

Both boys walked into the office of Professor Higgins, who picked up two small white envelopes and handed one to each. "Now get out of my sight" the professor said. "oh, boys you may go home now as you have nothing better to do." And with that the boys left the room closing the door quietly behind them.

"What did you get, what did you get?!" moriarty asked excitedly, practically buzzing with excitement.

"No, you first" Sherlock said with a mischievous grin.

"Arrgh" moriarty growled with mock anger. "Before I open this though, I just wanted to let you know you can come aboard my war ship any time you want."

"What?" Sherlock asked looking at moriarty like he was mad.

"Well, when I'm rich because of these great results, I'm gonna buy a war ship and your free to come aboard whenever you like." He replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Thanks, but why?" Sherlock asked, clearly still very confused.

"Well, you know how much I love the great HMS Belfast; I decided if I can't have the real deal, I may as well buy my own." He said "anyway, enough of that let's see how I did." With that moriarty pulled out the small piece of white paper with a flourish. "I got an A* he said jumping up and down on the spot.

"That's awesome, although I didn't doubt you" Sherlock said with a wide smile.

"Thanks dude" Moriarty replied. "Now come on, open yours" he continued excitedly, pointing at Sherlock's envelope.

"Alright, alright keep your hair on" Sherlock said as he began to break the seal of the envelope. He pulled out his own results and there was a tense moment of silence whilst he read the information on the paper.

"Well? What does it say?" moriarty asked as Sherlock looked up, a solemn expression on his face.

"I got a D." Sherlock said quietly.

"But…but you need at least a B to pass any university course on forensics." Moriarty said, clearly stating the obvious.

"I know, what am I going to do, I've got to pass this course or my career is over." Sherlock said.

"Hold on I've got an idea." Moriarty said a grin returning to his shadowed face. "All the grade information is stored on the university's hardrive, but it won't be sent off for about another week, so if we break in tonight when there's no one around, we can change your result.

Sherlock's grin now returned to him. "Ok then what we will do is, we will come after midnight when all the night classes have gone home and then I will go in whilst you stay outside and cover me in case we are seen, and then we will get out of there as soon as possible."

"Ok I will see you tonight then" moriarty said and with that he hoped on the bus that took him to his estate and left Sherlock standing at the bus stop in the cold British rain.

**Later that night…**

Both of the boys were stood outside the university in the dark. "So I'm gonna break in through the art rooms, because the windows in there are usually unlocked for ventilation, I'm gonna climb in through there and then go down the corridor to where the exams office is." Sherlock rattled off, clearly he had thought this out down to every minute detail.

"And you want me to just stand out here and keep watch." Moriarty asked still not sure about Sherlock's elaborate plan.

"Yeah" and with that Sherlock sprinted off to the ground floor windows across the other side of the car park.

Sherlock grunted as he lifted the window of the art room up releasing the strong stench of PVA glue and paint. He hauled himself up and swung his legs over the sill of the high window. As he jumped down to the floor he nearly tripped on the floor that was wet from being cleaned. He walked across the large room, weaving his way around the scratched and broken tables and was just about to open the door when he heard two voices just outside. He looked through the small rectangular window of the classroom door, making sure he was quiet, so as not to alert the two teachers on the other side of the glass.

"…they're really cocky" one said.

"But didn't one of them fail the exam?" the other voice asked.

"Yes Mr Holmes only got a D" the first voice said.

"Not if I can help it" Sherlock muttered under his breath. Suddenly a loud chirping noise started up, and at first he thought it was an alarm that would alert the two late working teachers of his presence just a foot to they're left, but it was just one of the teachers' phone. He took it from his pocket and put it up to his ear.

"Yes honey I'll be home soon, okay, okay, see you soon, love you." He sighed as he put the phone back in his pocket "come on we better go, or my wife's gonna gouge out my eyes or something." With that they both walked of down the corridor. Sherlock wiped the sweat of his brow and opened the door.

When Sherlock arrived at the exams office, the door had carelessly been left unlocked, "they really need to fire Mrs Mayliss, she's useless" he thought as he pushed the door open and walked over to the computer where the files had been left up as usual. He clicked on the Forensics file and found both his and Moriarty's files. He tried to change his result but found he couldn't. "Shit!" he said louder this time. The only way he could do it was if he swapped his and Moriarty's results around. "Sorry Jim" he said quietly as he dragged the A* next to his name.

"Have you done it?" moriarty asked as Sherlock jogged back across the car park

"Yeah" Sherlock said, keeping his head down to hide his guilty red face.

**The next day…**

Sherlock's phone was buzzing on his bedside table, he groaned and reached over to grab it as he looked at his digital clock that said 8:37 the caller ID said moriarty, that seemed weird, moriarty never called he always texted. He picked it up and pressed the green button "hello" he croaked.

"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE?!" Moriarty screamed down the phone, making Sherlock jump up out of bed.

"What are you on about?" Sherlock asked, although he knew exactly what.

"YOU SWITCHED OUR RESULTS! DIDN'T YOU!"

"Yes" Sherlock said sheepishly looking guiltily at his feet, even though he had no angry face to hide from.

"I HATE YOU!" Moriarty screamed and then the phone went dead.

"Uh oh, I'm in trouble." Sherlock said as he got dressed and went downstairs. As he sat down to watch the news two hours later a breaking news story came on the screen, someone had broken onto the HMS Belfast and had smashed up several display cases in pure fury before the police had stopped him. This man's name was Jim Moriarty.

"Oh god"

**Present day**

"You still haven't told me where he will be" John said, looking back at the bent and blackened bars of the cells.

"Where did he break into that day?" Sherlock asked slowly

"Oh no, you don't think…" john turned back to Sherlock as the realisation hit him. But Sherlock had already started to sprint out of the cell block.


	10. Chapter 10

**10**

With a sigh, john sprinted to catch up with Sherlock who was already halfway down the stairs. By the time john caught up with him, Sherlock was flagging for a taxi. The duo got into the taxi and it sped off towards the HMS Belfast, following Sherlock's stern commands.

They arrived at the great warship to find the area in lockdown. "I see Lestrade beat us here then" john remarked as they got out of the taxi.

"Yup, causing an unnecessary fuss as usual" Sherlock replied as they navigated their way through the crowd of camera men, news presenters, journalists and concerned citizens. Sherlock began to run towards the bank of the river, but was stopped in his tracks by a beefy, hairless man in a reflective yellow vest.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't let you past this point" the man said in a loud, deep voice.

"Scotland yard" Sherlock said flourishing lestrade's ID.

"Oh I'm sorry, go ahead gentlemen" he said pointing towards the steps that lead on to the ship. Sherlock and john ran up the steps and onto the top deck of the Belfast.

The deck was deathly silent as if the ship was in a huge bubble, blocked from the outside world. Suddenly the horn of the ship went off at a deafening volume, popping the sound bubble and the strong Irish accent of Jim moriarty boomed out over the intercom. " this is your captain speaking, we thank you for choosing Moriarty river ways and hope you enjoy your trip" with a childish giggle the intercom shut off and the great ship lurched forward violently throwing Sherlock and John into the railing forcing them to hold on.

"John we're moving!" Sherlock yelled over the sound of rushing water and grinding engines.

"Really, I hadn't noticed" john yelled back sarcastically "of course it's moving, you idiot."

Sherlock looked down for a moment at the lapping waves of the river Thames, created by the sudden movement of the Belfast, before leaving his spot and racing up towards the captain's quarters to confront his arch nemesis.

Sherlock threw the door open, the ancient metal creaking under the pressure and walked slowly in to the seemingly empty bridge of the ship. "Where's moriarty?" john said quietly, afraid that talking too loud would awaken something evil.

A loud wolf whistle came from the corner of the room. Both Sherlock and john whipped their heads in the direction of the sound to find moriarty sitting in a large leather captain's seat, wearing a captain's hat and uniform. "Honey forget the crown, I look even more dashing in a captain's hat." Both Sherlock and john stood motionless for a moment before Sherlock began to take a step forward. "DON'T MOVE!" moriarty yelled, his anger getting the better of him " I have a ship, I've got you two trapped and there's no one to come and help you, I think I've finally won, don't you?" he said with a giggle. Sherlock looked over at John but the gaze was not returned as John was staring disbelievingly at moriarty. "Now if you don't mind, I really must go" Moriarty said and without another word he leapt out of the open window onto the deck below.

John began to say something along the lines of "stop him" but was too late as Sherlock had already gone through the window after his nemesis, leaving John behind and motionless for a moment.

When John finally emerged on the Ship's main deck after taking the more conventional stairs rather than jumping through the window, he found Sherlock and Moriarty stood absolutely still, staring silently at each other. "What the hell are you doing?" john asked angrily, scowling at Sherlock "arrest him!"

"No, no, John you don't understand, Sherlock can't move." Moriarty said, a smile growing on his face. "If he moves I will blow up that lovely little University along with all it's lovely little students." As he said this he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his mobile phone "one press of this button and BOOM! bye bye students!" As he said all this he began to move backwards towards a display case containing pieces of old naval equipment, when he reached it he pulled a fire axe off of the wall of the ship and plunged it down onto the glass top, shattering the glass and starting an ear shattering wail of an alarm bouncing over the ship. He grabbed the most prominent items in the case, two eighteenth century cutlasses. "A fight to the death, you win and the students live and I die, however if I win BOOM! The university goes up in smoke."

Sherlock stepped forward "you're on."

"Sherlock, NO!" John shouted, but to no prevail as both of them ignored him.

Moriarty threw his phone at John and his eyes widened as he reached out to catch the phone making sure not to thumb any of the buttons. " be careful with that" he said "we don't want any unnecessary… accidents" he continued thoughtfully, he then tossed one of the cutlasses at Sherlock, who plucked it out of the air as it sailed down towards his chest.

For a moment there was silence as both of them slowly moved around, not taking their eyes off of each other, and then Sherlock stepped forward suddenly jabbing his sword in towards Moriarty's stomach, but moriarty was too quick he stepped back and returned the jab making Sherlock jump to the side, the sword barely missing the open flesh of his neck. Moriarty quickly made another move hardly giving Sherlock time to breath but was met in mid-air by Sherlock's sword making a clanging sound that rung across the deck of the ship and making sparks fly from the clashing steel.

Moriarty ran off towards the top deck with Sherlock giving chase, his coat tails flapping behind him like a cape.

When Sherlock arrived on the deck of the ship, Moriarty was standing on the edge, brandishing his sword, causing it to glint in the sunlight. "How about it then Holmes?" he yelled "come on up here, first to fall loses." He paused for a moment before adding "and most probably dies." Sherlock clambered up onto the edge of the deck, swaying for a moment before gaining his balance.

"why are you doing this Moriarty?" Sherlock growled.

"FUN!" Moriarty yelled in reply before he wobbled towards him, laughing, with his sword in front. Sherlock blocked at the last minute as the blade came down towards his chest, swinging the blades together towards the side of the ship, nearly falling over the edge.

John clambered up the ladder up onto the deck, just as Sherlock swiped his leg, kicking Moriarty's from under him, sending him spiralling into the churning water of the river Thames. He ran over to Sherlock, extending his hand to help him back onto the deck and away from danger of the swaying ship's edge. "You did it!" John said, a smile stretching across his face.

"yes, I did, I would have thought that would be obvious, John." Sherlock replied without so much as a smile. "have you got the phone still?"

"yes of course." John said, taking the slim phone from his coat pocket.

"we need to get that to Bomb disposal so that they can trace the location of the bomb and get rid of it, we don't know what else Moriarty had planned so we need to get rid of it as soon as possible." Sherlock said as he walked off towards the wheel of the ship, moving it into moor at the bank of the river.

As the duo stepped onto the bank of the thames they were swarmed by police officers and paramedics. One of which was D.I Lestrade. "Lestrade give this to bomb disposal, and I suggest you don't press anything because it will trigger a rather large explosion." Sherlock said as he tossed the mobile phone at Lestrade. Without another word he walked off, leaving Lestrade standing amongst the crowd clutching the phone and speechless.

**EPILOGUE**

On the other side of the river, a heavy wind whipped up around a sopping wet Moriarty as a jet black helicopter descended down in front of him, masked by the darkness of the late evening. As the runners hit the dry Grass, the door slid open and he climbed inside, shutting the door behind him and belting himself into the passenger seat. "where to now sir?" the pilot asked turning to look at him.

"well Ms Ryder, I think a trip to the tower of London is so very long overdue." The Aircraft lifted up from the ground to the sound of Moriarty's laughter.


End file.
